Having safely steered her team through to The FA Women’s Cup quarter-finals, Manchester City captain Steph Houghton immediately turned her attention to their opening FA WSL clash with Liverpool.
Debutants City have been handed quite a welcome to the League, with Thursday evening’s trip to reigning champions Liverpool swiftly followed by the visit of last year’s runner- up Bristol Academy on Sunday.
Despite the 2-1 Cup victory over Reading, courtesy of two Toni Duggan strikes to kick-start their season in the best possible way, Houghton knows they cannot afford to get carried away.
Liverpool v Manchester City
FA WSL 1
7.45pm, Thursday 17 April
Select Security Stadium
Live on BT Sport
She said: "It’s a really testing week for us with Reading in The FA Women’s Cup and then Liverpool and Bristol in the league.
"That’s what you play football for, to be part of those competitive fixtures and there will be no easy games in this league.
"It will be a challenging start for the squad but something that we’re really looking forward to.
"People have said that we are title favourites but we’ve got to keep our feet on the ground and we know we are not setting any targets whatsoever.
"It’s our first season, we are a new team with new management so it’s about trying to settle into the league and trying to kick on from there."
If City want to mark their WSL bow with a bang, they will have to find a way past a Liverpool side who lost just two league games on the way to lifting the trophy last season.
The Reds also won their Cup tie at the weekend, defeating Sunderland 2-0, but captain Gemma Bonner knows her side need to start well in the league.
She added: "We have a short season so it’s really important that we pick up points early and hit the ground running.
"We have confidence going into the league and it’s important for us to get some momentum going.
"We want our performances to match our potential and City will be a test to see if we can live up to what we did last year. City are an unknown in this league.
"I think we are in for a very hard game and it would be a great result to come away with three points."
Last week BT Sport met players and managers from all 18 FA WSL clubs to inform them of their plans for the new campaign. Watch our special behind-the-scenes video at the top of the page
